Tobacco spearing machine



Jamal, 1950 E, J. STULA TOBACCO SPEARING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJan. 13, 1948 INVENTOR.

fDMu/w J 570.44. BY

rI ll.

Wm M

E. J. STULA 2,495,874

TOBACCO SPEARING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 31, 1150 Filed Jan. '15,1948 INVENTOR. EDMUND J STl/Lfl.

Patented Jan. 31, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE roeecoo SPEAKINGMACHINE Edmund J. Stula, Rockvflle, Conn.

Application January 13, 1948, SerialNo. 2,119

'6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to tobacco spearing machines and moreparticularly to machines which are adapted to spear tobacco plants ontoa lath so that they may be hung up to An object of this invention is toprovide .a machine which is easy to operate and which will automaticallyinitiate a cycle of operation to spear a tobacco plant as it is placedin position within said machine. a

A :further object of the invention is to provide a spearing machine inwhich the lath iorflreceiving the plant may be easily inserted andremoved therefrom as the plants have been speared onto it.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a machine which issimple in construction and inexpensive in its operation.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more clearlyunderstood from the following description and from the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying my invention and showingthe same in its normal position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the machine in operation and in theposition wherein ea tobacoo plant is belngspeared onto alath.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of a portion of the machine in centralvertical section, illustrating the position of the tobacco plant afterit is inserted in the machine.

Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating the ma chine'in the positionwherein the said tobacco plant is being speared onto the lath. F I

Fig. 5 is an end view in vertical section on .line fr-inf Fig, '2. 1

Fig. 6 is a similar view on line 6- 5 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 7 is a sectional plan view offa portion of one side of the machineillustrating the construction of the lath supporting mechanism.

As shown in the drawings. a machine embodying the present invention maycomprise :a frame including :side ibars 5-4 which are meferahlysupported on legs 1-3 at the opposite ends of the machine,

The said bars are connected at one end :by means *of a crossbar 9 and atthe opposite end by means of cross plates iii-1H, both of which arespaced from the end of the machine.

Slide bars IE-13 are slidably mounted in the slide bars 5 and B,respectively, preferably by .means of dovetails on said slide bars whichare A plurality of pusher dogs I l-I5 are pivotally carried upon theslide bars l2--l.3 and operatively connected, respectively, by operatingbars lB-ll.

A header .IB is slidably mounted in the dovetail grooves of the sidebars 56 at the plant spearing end of said machine, and the said headeris operated by means of a suitable mechanism, such as a crank disk l9having a crank stud 20 between which and the lugs 2| on the header thereis connected a crank rod 22 for operating the header. The said crankdisk 19 is carried on and rotates with a shaft 2-3 that is mounted in asuitable bearing 24 carried on a supporting plate 25 which is mounted onthe end of the side bars .6, and .a suitable clutch mechanism may beemployed for causing a cycle of rotation of said crank disk 19 by theshaft 23 when .a tobacco plant .is inserted in the machine.

The said clutch mechanism may comprise a clutch collar 25 which is keyedto and is slidable on the shaft 23 and has a projection 2! for engaginga co-operating recess 28 in the hub of the disk 19. The said collar maybe operated by means of a lever 29 which in turn is operated by asuitable solenoid 30 that is energized by a source of electric current3| when an electric circuit between said source and solenoid is closedby means of an electric switch such as shown in Fig. 15. This switchpreferably includes a locating bar '32 that carries a flexible switchbar 33 that is co-axia'l with and overlies the notches 3435respectively, in the plates lfll l which notches receive the stalk ofthe tobacco plant, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. and "locate it inposition to be speared onto the lath 36 that is removably supported insaid machine by means of a supporting notch 31 in the bar 9 and thefingers 38-39 which engage the spear head 40, of conventional form, that.is placed over the spearing end of the lath 36. These fingers are urgedby springs against stops as shown in Fig. 7 by means of which they arenormally positioned perpendicularly to the lath.

It will be noted that the header I8 carries pusher bars 41-42 forpushing the tobacco plant over the spear head and that the bar 42 has aV-formation, at 43, to receive and support the spear head, and therebythe free end of the lath, while the plant stalk is "being pushed.'thereonto.

The operating bars I6I1 are connected to the "header Jdibymeans ofconnecting links M45 which are pivotally secured to said operating barsand header and the said header carries spring latch members 46-41 whichare adapted to engage locking pins 48-49 so as to lock the slide barsI2-l3 to the header for the purpose to be hereinafter described.Disengaging pins 50--5l are also provided and mounted on the side barsand 6 so as to engage the ends of the said latch members 46-41 anddisengage them from the locking pins 48-49 in the manner which will alsobe hereinafter described.

As illustrated in Fig. '7 of the drawings, the supporting fingers 38 and39 are each pivotally mounted on a bracket 52 which has a base in theform of a plate 53 that is secured to the side of the respective sidebars 5 and 6. The said bracket extends through a slot 54 in the side barwhich permits sliding movement of said bar in the operation of themachine.

Assuming that the drive shaft 23 is in rotation and being driven by anysuitable power means, and that it is desired to spear a number oftobacco plants upon laths, the spear head 49 is first attached to theend of one of the laths 36. The said lath is then placed in the machinein the position shown in Fig. 1 wherein the butt end of the lath isinserted and supported in the notch 3'! and the spearing or leading endof the lath is supported with the spear head thereon resting upon thefingers 38 and 39, the ends of which are tapered to conform to theformation of the spear head, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 6, andthereby center said head and the lath thereon while at the same timesupporting the speari ng end of the lath. Consequently, the lath issupportedby the notch 3! and the fingers 38 and 39 and butts against theend of the notch 37 so as to resist the force applied against said lathas the plants are moved thereonto.

The stems of the plants are now inserted, one at a time. into thenotches 3435, from the bottom of the machine. and then moved upwardlyagainst the spring switch bar 33. v

As each stem is so inserted, it forces said bar into contact with thelocating bar 32. This cates the stem of the plant at the proper heightand at the same time closes the electric circuit which connects theelectric supply source 3! with the solenoid 3D and causes the saidsolenoid to operate the lever 29 and move the clutch collar 26 to lockthe crank disk l9 to the drive shaft 23 which will cause rotation of thecrank [9. As the said collar rotates the crank disk [9 and is about tocomplete a revolution, the cam portion 55 will be engaged by the fixedroller 56 which will move said collar rearwardly anddisengage the driveshaft 23 from the crank disk, whereupon the cycle of operation of themachine is completed. 1

During the rotation of the crank disk for each cycle of operation, theheader I8 will be moved forwardly so that the links 44-45 will operatethe operating bars l6l1 to swing all of the pusher dogs I4I 5 into aposition where they will be perpendicular to the axis of the lath 36 andthe ends of the slide. bars l2-l3 will abut the leading edge of theheader I8, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4, in which position the hooks46-4! will engage the locking pins 48-49 and lock the said bars to theheader to thereby prevent the dogs l4--l5 from retracting as they pushthe stems forwardly on the lath. Continued forward movement of theheader l8 in each cycle of operation will cause the said dogs to movelongitudinally to the axis of the lath 36 and, during such movement,engage the stems of any 4 plants that have already been speared ontosaid lath and move them forwardly thereon for a predetermined distance.

As the pushers 4l42 engage the stem of the plant which is inserted inthe notches 34-45, they will move said stem away from the switch bar 33and thereby permit the circuit to the solenoid 30 to be broken and thatwill also swing the fingers 38-39 to one side, as shown in Fig. 2 and,while the said fingers are in that position, the end of the lath will besupported in the V 43 of the lower pusher bar 42, as clearly illustratedin Fig. 4.

When the pusher bars have reached their foremost positions, asillustrated in Fig. 2, the latches 46-41 will engage the disengagingpins Bil-5| and this will cause the said latches to be released from thelocking pins 48-49 and thereby permit the dogs l4l5 to be swung backinto retracted position by initial retracting movement of the header l8which will then continue and return all of said dogsto theinnol'malpositions, as shown in Fig. 1, wherein they will be in 'position for thenext cycle of operation during which they will engage the respectivestems of the plants already on the lath and move them forward for onestep.

It will be understood from the above description that, as the stem' ofeach plant is inserted within the locating notches 34-35, it will closethe electric circuit which will start-the machine for a single cycle ofoperation. During this cycle, the plant will be speared onto the lath,over the end of the spear head 40," and during the successive cycles ofoperation the said plant will be moved forward one step at a time untilit reaches the final position on the lath' when, as in the embodimentshown, six plants have been speared onto'said lath and it is full. Thesaid lath may then be removed from the machine with the plants thereonby'simply lifting it out of the notch 31 and off the supporting fingers38-39, and passing the lath and plants under the machine, which may bedone without interference from the pusher dogs l4|5 nor from any otherparts of the machine.

It will also be understood that in their operation, the said pusher dogsfirst move into perpendicular position and in back of the stems alreadyon the lath, then move forwardly to push the stems onto and along thelath, then swing back into their open position, as illustrated in Fig.1, and'the'n retract into normal position. It will also be noted thatthe dogs [4 are'on a plane above the lath 36 while the dogs'l 5 are'on aplane below said 'lath. This is so that they will engage each of thestems above and below the' lath and thereby prevent tipping of saids'tem's as they are moved alongonthelath.

The said dogs I 4l 5 are evenly spaced apart in accordance with thedistance desired between the different plants and the distance from theends of the pusher bars 4| -42 to the plant being inserted in themachine, when the said pusher bars are in the normal position, ispredetermined so that the pusher dogs will be moved into theirperpendicular positions relative to the axis of the'lath and contacttheir respective stems on said lath as the endsof said pusher. barscontact the stem of the plant in the locating notches 34-35, so that allof'the stems will be moved forwardly on the lath at equal distances. 7

I claim:

l. A machine of the character described for spearing tobacco plants ontoa lath; the said machine comprising a frame, slide bars oppositelydisposed in said frame, means for supporting a lath between said slidebars, a plurality of dogs equally spaced and pivotally carried on saidslide bars above and below the axis of said lath, a header slidable insaid frame, operating bars interconnected to said dogs and operable bysaid header to move them into stem engaging position by initial movementof said header, and means for locking said dogs in said last namedposition whereby, upon continued movement of said header, the said dogswill be simultaneously moved forwardly along said lath to move stemsthereon for predetermined distances.

2. A machine of the character described comprising a frame, slide barsoppositely disposed in said frame, means for supporting a lath betweensaid slide bars, a plurality of dogs equally spaced and pivotallycarried on said slide bars, a header slidable in said frame, operatingbars interconnected to said dogs and movable by said header to move thedogs into stem engaging position during initial movement of said header,and means for locking said bars to said header to retain the dogs insaid last named position.

3. A machine as set forth in claim 2 including means for releasing thesaid bars from said header as the dogs have reached their forwardmostposition, to thereby permit the dogs to be retracted by initialretracting movement of the header.

4. A machine of the character described for spearing tobacco plants ontoa lath, the said machine comprising a frame, slide bars oppositelydisposed in said frame, means for supporting a lath between said slidebars, a plurality of dogs equally spaced and pivotally carried on saidslide bars, a header slidable in said frame, operating barsinterconnected to said dogs and operable by said header to move theminto stem engaging position upon initial movement of the header, meanscarried on said header for locking said slide bars thereto to retain thedogs in stem engaging position during the forward movement thereofrelatively to the lath, and means for disengaging said locking meansfrom the slide bars to permit said dogs to be retracted during theinitial rearward movement of said header and 6 then moved to normalposition during continued rearward movement of the header.

5. A machine of the character described comprising means for holding alath, means for moving a stem of a plant to be speared onto said lath,and means for locating said stem and causing initial operation of saidmachine, the said locating means including a stop member, an electricswitch mounted on said stop member, the said switch being operable uponinsertion of a stem in said machine to close an electric circuit, andmeans adapted to be energized upon the closing of said circuit to causea single cycle of operation of the machine.

6. A machine of the character described comprising a frame having a pairof parallel side bars, a pair of slide bars slidable in said side bars,a plurality of dogs pivotally mounted on each of said slide bars, meansfor supporting a lath between said dogs, said supporting means includinga crossbar at one end of the machine for supporting the butt end of thelath, and a pair of pivotally mounted fingers for supporting thespearing end of a lath, a header having a projection for engaging a stemand forcing it onto the said spearing end of the lath, the said headeralso operating said slide bars and dogs to cause them to movepre-speared stems along said lath, means on said pusher for receivingand positioning the spearing end of said lath as the stem is pushedthereonto and said supporting fingers are out of engagement therewith,the said supporting fingers being adapted to move into lath supportingposition as the projection on said header is retracted from the spearingend of the lath.

EDMUND J. STULA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 933,127 Shinn Sept. 7, 1909945,717 Gullickson Jan. 4, 1910 1,426,039 Candee Aug. 15, 1922

